4 man ops / NM FP

BACKGROUND
Let me start that saying that I enjoy raids and ops, currently my main is a sent with full arkanian and set bonus. However my guild is mainly composed by casuals and hardly ever has enough for and 8 man ops; I enjoy their company but is difficult to do gear progression. Most of the time some 4-5 guildies get together and then pug the rest for a 16 man SM op, this however being hit and miss since we end up we a reasonably good group that does TFB under 2 hours or a really bad one. Not having and dedicated group has kept me from running HM and NM ops.

SUGGESTION
Most HM FP are currently quite easy and composed of tank and spank fights. Lost Island on one hand was the only FP that required some level of group coordination but putting it on GF made it so difficult as a pugged NM op. Instead coordinated groups were able to clear it without any problems.
My suggestion would be to introduce new lvl 55 flashpoints with the SM being placed next to the current 55 HM FP. Then make HM and NM versions that have real and complex mechanics, where being gear is not enough but having real group coordination gets you through. Treating them like 4 man ops.
Make the fights longer (10-15 min) and multi staged (like olok the shadow)
Currently there are a total of 12 bosses for lvl 55 ops (5-TFB, 7-SnV) that grant arkanian/Underworld tokens (Kell dragon for NM), this results in an average of 1.5 tokes per raid member a week. Create 6 FP (you can make some new and re-skin some old/ravorite ones like MP/Foundry and FE) each one drop 2 tokens at the end of the final boss (underworlds for HM version Kell-dragon for NM).
Treat them like an op and provide a lockout or for example a limit of 3 a week (3FP X 2 tokes /4 = 1.5 tokes per group member) to keep people from farming.
This allows people that cannot raid with 7 other people to do it with a smaller group in their own time and improve their gear.
Most importantly is for the 4-man op to be equally if not slightly more difficult than current HM and MN ops. Rewarding not only gear but also group coordination and people playing the classes correctly.

One thing you're incorrect on is that not all of those bosses drop unassembled tokens. Some drop verpine pieces. That being said, NiM mode FP's are a good idea. The only problem is that there is already content that the vast majority of the player base will never see until they greatly over-gear it. Adding more content that they can't do will just increase the QQ.

One thing you're incorrect on is that not all of those bosses drop unassembled tokens. Some drop verpine pieces. That being said, NiM mode FP's are a good idea. The only problem is that there is already content that the vast majority of the player base will never see until they greatly over-gear it. Adding more content that they can't do will just increase the QQ.

you are right, now according to pts patch notes:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Operations

Terror From Beyond
•Nightmare Mode is now available for Terror from Beyond!
•Story Mode drops have been updated to include the following in addition to current rewards:
•The Writhing Horror now drops the Arkanian Bracer Token

•The Dread Guard now drops an additional random Black Market Item

Scum and Villainy
•A PTS sneak preview of nightmare mode is now available for Legions of Scum and Villainy! This will be released as part of Game Update 2.2.2.
•Story Mode drops have been updated to include the following in addition to current rewards:
•Dash'Roode now drops the Arkanian Waist Token

•Titan 6 now drops the Arkanian Implant Token

•Thrasher now drops the Arkanian Earpiece Token

Making it 11 operations bosses that grant arkanian or underworld tokes (12 including GF). Regarding QQ , that is were my suggestion of treating them as HM and NM ops comes from; where a group willingly goes into the instance knowing before hand that the content is difficult, instead of being randomly placed in it by GF because you "forgot" to uncheck it when you que'd

Quote:
Originally Posted by ELRunninW

Seems to me OP is looking to gear up 'casual' players forgetting that this will introduce imbalance where players spending more time playing a game will get their gear too fast.

Remember, if you are 'casual' player then you should get 'casual' rewards for your efforts.

My intentions are not this, I'm simply suggesting that currently gear progression is made for 8 and 16 man groups while 4 man groups are only given FP that are quite easy. My idea is to provide another method for smaller groups to improve their gear by introducing more difficult content.

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The statements and opinions expressed on these websites are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, nor are they endorsed by Bioware, LucasArts, and its licensors do not guarantee the accuracy of, and are in no way responsible for any content on these websites.